Online airline ticket purchasing: Influence of online sales promotion type and Internet experience

• The different online sales promotions should be designed according to the level of Internet experience.
• Discounts are more appealing to novice Internet users for purchase e-tickets.
• Free hotel accommodation is preferred by expert users for purchase e-tickets.

PurposeThe aim is to assess which type of online promotional incentive (that is, a price discount, a luggage set, or two nights' hotel accommodation) is the most effective at achieving purchase intention for airline tickets, depending on the user's level of Internet experience (characterized as novice or expert user).Design/methodology/approachA Univariate General Linear Model is conducted, based on data obtained via an experimental design with three levels: monetary online sales promotion, non-monetary utilitarian online sales promotion and non-monetary hedonic online sales promotion.FindingsThe findings indicate that, in the case of acquiring an airline ticket online, discounts are more appealing to novice Internet users, while free hotel accommodation is preferred by expert users.Originality/valueThe present study breaks new ground in that it examines, in the airline sector, the effectiveness of online sales promotions at prompting the individual to purchase online, in a comparative analysis based on online sales incentive type (monetary, non-monetary utilitarian, non-monetary hedonic). The work contributes to the literature on the online airline sector by analyzing how the user's level of Internet experience affects the effectiveness of each type of online sales promotion.